As a therapist with more than 3 decades of experience, I can help you find relief from anxiety, depression, grief, guilt and symptoms of trauma.   I believe we all have the right to pursue happiness and it is NOT necessary to feel miserable.  I also like working with life-change issues and ways to cope with the stresses of daily life.  Therapy is often about finding solutions to the problems of every day life and meeting the challenges of changes in our lives with flexibility.   

I not only work with individuals, but couples and families as well.   I find it very rewarding to help family members communicate better and find ways to restore peace and  harmony to conflicted relationships.

My favorite treatment modalities include cognitive-behavioral therapy, desensitization and other mind-body therapies. Most people find therapy work that includes the mind as well as the body to be powerful and effective. 

Anxiety

Anxiety is an unpleasant state typically associated with uneasiness , fear or worry, or outright panic.  It is both psychological and physiological and, as such, needs to be worked with on all levels: cognitive, somatic, emotional, and behavioral.  I regard anxiety to be a normal reaction to stress particularly in our  modern life.  However if the state of anxiety becomes prolonged or well entrenched, then an anxiety disorder can be the result.

How do I work with anxiety? The first thing we do is clarify the type of anxiety you are experiencing and it's duration.  For example, do you have a phobia or phobias?  Panic attacks? If you are experiencing a general anxiety, is it all the time?  Intermittent?  in response to certain situations such as occurs in social anxiety?  Then I begin treatment by working with the body.  I teach relaxation, how to do a body scan and how to work with "felt sense."  Next we move to the thought processes that go with anxiety and strategies to alter cognitions.  There is often "anxiety about the anxiety" in which people fear they will have an anxiety attack at some inopportune moment and embarrass themselves.  And anxiety can mask emotions that are hard to deal with such as anger. 

It is important as you seek therapy for anxiety that you create a positive outlook about it.  It is very easy to avoid therapy as a means of avoiding one's anxiety.  I strive to make every session a positive one and if you do the same (as well as your homework), it is very possible to return to normal levels of arousal rather than anxiety.  The capacity to regulate the nervous system and to calm fears is possible to learn if you put in the effort.

This video is a beautiful 10-minutes guided meditation.  I invite you to watch it.

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Depression

Various aspects of personality and its development appear to be integral to the occurrence and persistence of depression,  with negative emotionality as a common precursor.  Although depressive episodes are strongly correlated with adverse events, a person's characteristic style of coping may be correlated with their resilience. Additionally, low self-esteem and self-defeating or distorted thinking are related to depression.  It is not always clear which factors are causes or which are effects of depression; however, depressed persons who are able to make corrections in their thinking patterns often show improved mood and self-esteem.

American psychiatrist Aaron T. Beck developed what is now known as a cognitive model of depression in the early 1960s. He proposed that three concepts underlie depression: a triad of negative thoughts composed of cognitive errors about oneself, one's world, and one's future; recurrent patterns of depressive thinking, or schemas; and distorted information processing.  From these principles, he developed the structured technique of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). According to American psychologist, Martin Seligman, depression in humans is similar to learned helplessness in laboratory animals, who remain in unpleasant situations when they are able to escape, but do not because they initially learned they had no control.

Depressed individuals often blame themselves for negative events, and a 1993 study of hospitalized adolescents with self-reported depression shows that those who do this may not take credit for positive outcomes. This tendency is characteristic of a depressive attributional, or pessimistic explanatory style. According to Albert Bandura, a Canadian social psychologist associated with social cognitive theory, depressed individuals have negative beliefs about themselves, based on experiences of failure, observing the failure of social models, a lack of social persuasion that they can succeed, and their own somatic and emotional states including tension and stress. These influences may result in a negative self concept and a perceived lack of self-efficacy; that is, they do not believe they can influence events or achieve personal goals.

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Individual Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is the practice of talking things through with a skilled and trusted professional.  It provides a context for solving problems in one's personal life and healing emotional pain such as anxiety, depression, grief, guilt and trauma.  For all who seek therapy, there is a desire to grow coupled with the courage to change.  Inevitably, there are times when we lose our way, make mistakes or flounder in doubts about our own abilities. A skilled therapist understands and can help us to find solutions to problems and relief from pain in a nonjudgmental atmosphere.  Life is a journey without end.  Learning to foster our strengths and nurture a sense of well being and peace that persists in the face of all challenges is an important and vital task.

People often want to know what type of therapy is best for them and some of the most common types of therapy that I specialize in are Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, systematic desensitization and mind-body therapies such as Somatic Experiencing.  I regard myself as holistic and transpersonal in my approach as a therapist and tailor the work we do to your needs as an individual.  I am also very partial to utilizing the newly emerging brain research to refine my techniques and provide the most effective treatment strategies.  Sessions are face-to-face in the office for 45 to 50 minutes, although occasionally we may have a session by telephone or with Skype.

The length of therapy will vary with the nature of the problem.  A problem that is limited in scope such as fear of flying or the death of a loved one can often be resolved in as little as 6 sessions.  When we deal with problems that are more complex, changes need to be made gradually and in small increments so that the changes will be stable and in harmony will all aspects of one's life.  A good rule of thumb is around six months to make significant progress.

It is also important that you feel comfortable working with me and that I am a good match for you.  To explore this, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour session with me over the phone.  You can make an appointment by clicking on "make an appointment" and selecting the "free initial consult" option.

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Couple's Counseling

When I work with couples, my approach is holistic.  That is, I work not only with the relationship, but with the individuals within the relationship.  There are three aspects that need to be focused on if any relationship is to function well.  This is 1) how the partners communicate with each other, 2) the issues the partners are having difficulty resolving and 3) the factors within each individual that create the particular dynamic of their relationship.  When you start working with me, we will evaluate your situation by meeting first as a couple and then I will meet with each of you individually.  When we reconvene on the fourth session, goals are developed and a plan of how we will conduct the therapy process will be worked out.

After four sessions, you will also know if you are comfortable working with me.  I have studied many approaches to relationship counseling in the more than 30 years I have been a therapist.  While it is fashionable to say one is an expert in one approach or another, I prefer to tailor my approach to the individuals I am working with.  I try to be as sensitive as I can to each of the persons in the partnership and I find this works best for ultimate success in creating a relationship that works.

You may want to end therapy when your distress is greatly diminished and you have found successful ways to take care of yourself.  At this time you may choose to transition into Wellness Coaching to continue your journey of self discovery and self actualization.

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Stress

     When most of us think about stress, we think of something negative occurring, a stressor, that we have insufficient personal or social resources to deal with.  So there are both external and internal referents to define stress.  Examples of external stressors might be death of a loved one and losses of any kind such as being laid off or getting a divorce.  Internal stressors might include the negative things we say to ourselves or unrealistic fears and phobias.  A stressor can be a positive one if it strains our resources such as getting a new job and stress, itself, can also be positive to the extent it motivates us to be engaged in life and productive actions.    Much of the work of psychotherapy is helping to develop the resources to handles the stressors that occur in our life in a way that restores balance to our life.  Sometimes it means learning better coping skills or developing strategies to meet challenges more effectively.  Sometimes it means being able to remain calm and balanced in the face of adversity or life changes even if they're positive.  A common thread I like to emphasis is the need to remain balanced  physically, mentally and emotionally.  I call this "feeding the horses" and I like to introduce the metaphor that life is a journey.  We are traveling through the forest on our horses aiming for the distant mountain peak shining in the sun.  But, to make our journey successful we must feed the horses, feed ourselves, clothe ourselves and mend the tents and the tack.  The analogy to our lives is that certain things our necessary to maintain optimal levels of well being.  This includes good nutrition, taking vitamins, exercising, getting adequate rest, engaging in a practice such as meditation or yoga and have a good social network of family and friends.   The internet is full of information about stress.    Here are two references you might find useful:  Wikipedia and the American Institute of Stress.